(dpa/TBI Africa.com) The U.S. Federal Government on Thursday announced a 16-billion-dollar aid package for farmers whose businesses have been badly affected by the ongoing trade war with China.
The U.S. and China have been in a tit-for-tat tariff escalation for a year, with Washington accusing Beijing of unfair practices, including barriers to trade and intellectual property theft.
“The sum of the aid package `is in line with the estimated impacts of unjustified retaliatory tariffs on U.S. agricultural goods and other trade disruptions,’’ the Department of Agriculture said.
In 2018, President Donald Trump’s aid package for farmers, which he announced as he kicked off the trade war, was worth up to 12 billion dollars.
“China hasn’t played by the rules for a long time and President Trump is standing up to them,’’ Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue said.
The secretary had told the Fox Business network that the government would help farmers find new markets for their products, outside China.
Soybean growers have been especially hard hit.
